Housing and Urban Issues
Stresses on urban communities continue to affect housing, food security, child services, homelessness, business development and crime. Coverage includes stories about new solutions to how cities are run, how they develop as urban centers and about the people who live there.
Self-government and local control are in jeopardy as never before. Diversity initiatives are engines of equal opportunity, offering a direct return on public investment.
The grant funding will be available through two programs that will support the state’s Broadband and 5G Sector Partnership, which aims to educate and train a skilled workforce for Ohio’s telecommunications industry.
In a 14-5 vote the Wisconsin capital’s City Council approved the creation of a “Transit-Oriented Development Overlay District” and includes some areas that have had, historically, predominantly single-family housing.
Susheela Nemani-Stranger will take over as the Authority’s executive director. If approved, she will be the first woman and the first person of Indian descent to lead the economic development agency.
The metro area in North Carolina faces unprecedented population growth and traffic congestion, which has triggered a study of possible commuter rail service. But the legacy of a failed light rail project casts a shadow on the plan.
The new program will pay off up to $50,000 in debt for five to 10 qualifying families this year, in an attempt to clear or reduce old debts that may inhibit a homebuyer’s ability to get a mortgage.
By undervaluing publicly owned assets, jurisdictions are missing out on enormous opportunities to help citizens and their communities. A newly launched incubator could change how public assets can be leveraged.
Historic federal investments aim to improve building efficiency standards. A new report highlights the states that could benefit the most. But updating the codes won’t be quick or easy, say experts.
Idaho employs an average of 53,000 farmers annually, but the state only has 274 homes subsidized by the federal government for farmworkers. The state is looking for ways to build more farmworker housing.
Washington, D.C., like many other cities, has seen a rise in remote work since the pandemic began. The lingering trend is prompting new conversations around how transit agencies and their services must change.
People love to be close to a lake, a river or an ocean, and waterfronts can be a major urban achievement. Why have so many cities done a poor job of cultivating this amenity?
Research from the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission found that rezoning transit corridors in and around Cleveland would encourage dense, walkable development, which could add population and rebuild the tax base.
More than 300,000 people moved out of California in 2022, resulting in an overall population decline for the third year in a row. A survey found that 64 percent of adult residents said housing affordability was “a big problem.”
A 2017 study found that 61 percent of workers commute into Muscatine County, Iowa, daily because they were unable to afford closer housing. Using reinforced concrete and large-scale 3-D printing may be a solution.
Only 59 percent of homeless students in Washington state graduate from high school in four years. But North Thurston Public Schools has their more than 600 homeless students graduating at nearly the same rate as their peers.
If pay simply kept pace with inflation since the most recent raise in 1988, state senators would now make more than $30,000. Experts say that increasing pay could help diversify the Legislature, making it more like the people they represent.
The city's Red Line project was canceled by Gov. Larry Hogan in 2015 after 12 years of planning. As Hogan leaves office, the project may be back. But advocates still want to change the way transit decisions are made.
Advocates claim that, to reach New York’s goal of a zero-emission electricity grid by 2040, there must be a push to electrify all new buildings across the state starting in 2024.
In the 19th century, Americans sought a more sentimental way to honor their dead. The unintended result was a rise in green spaces within urban areas, as well as the creation of the first suburbs.
Connecticut’s Communities Challenge Grant program will award eight grants to communities across the state to help fund revitalization projects in an effort to spur job growth. Half of the funds will go to “distressed” communities.
Its popularity is growing so fast that cities need to scramble to keep up with demand for facilities and to take advantage of its economic potential. They also will have to consider its racial and class implications.
Some Global South cities are using escalators and cable cars to connect their hill slums with city centers, showcasing how imaginative infrastructure can improve life for residents in isolated areas.
For the first time in the state’s upper house 245-year history, the six freshman legislators are all women. One of the women, Iwen Chu, will also be the first Asian American woman to hold a Senate seat.
You can make the case that it is, and not just in size. Every city is distinctive in some way, but nothing comes close to New York in the breadth and depth of its demographics, neighborhoods and culture.
COVID-19 created a host of issues for the waste industry that have only been worsened by rising inflation and a labor market shortage, which continue to increase costs for cities and counties.
Administrators of Bath Township, Ohio, aren’t sure why the 2020 Census reported a 40 percent decline in population as compared to the 2010 report. Officials suspect the loss is a data glitch; surrounding communities have been shrinking.
A pilot program has gradually amassed more than $100 million in Federal Transit Administration grants, which are laying the groundwork for land use projects that promote mobility and affordability.
A study from the Economic Roundtable found that without the pandemic-induced eviction moratoriums, unemployment insurance boosts and stimulus payments, the county’s homelessness would have climbed to 23 percent.
The City Council has unanimously approved the task force, which would research the history and the effects of slavery in Boston and then assess and advise the city on next steps. The mayor must sign off for it to become law.
A trash truck or a streetlight has a basic function, but in a digital age they can be so much more, adding value outside of their core purposes.
Republican State House Rep. Jared Patterson has introduced a bill that would block residents under the age of 18 from creating a profile on social media sites, citing mental health and self-harm concerns.
